Over 1,300 People Died of AIDS in Mizoram Since 1990

World Aids Day (Photo: Reuters)

Aizawl: Over 1,300 people have died of AIDS in Mizoram out of the 13,040 HIV positive cases identified since October 1990, Mizoram State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) officials said on World Aids Day on Thursday.

They said the situation in the state was alarming as over 60 per cent of those living with HIV were infected through sexual contact, with many of them not belonging to risk groups.

Unless the NGOs and churches do not make concerted efforts in combating it, the future of the state would be extremely bleak, they added.

The number of HIV positive people was 1.19 per cent of the state's population according to the 2011 census, the officials said, adding that the percentage against the number of blood samples tested was 2.35.